Live and Die
by myriades
Summary: Akane sees the future minutes before she dies. Dies. Lives. Dies. Lives. Lives. [Spoilers for the all the endings]


Akane's thrown forward into her own future. She dies but she lives and her brother grieves but he doesn't. The morphogenetic field spreads out before her and she sees everything.

She sees everything. Through herself. Through Junpei. Jumpy. The boy who is her best friend who she hasn't seen in so long but saw just a few days ago and will not see for nine years.

She cannot connect to her brother even though she wants it more than anything. She's too young to understand until she does. Aoi is a receiver, he cannot transmit. She was a transmitter but now she is both. Junpei is both.

A Nonary game. Zero. For a moment Akane doesn't breathe because Jumpy is forced into a Nonary game and he could die and… oh. _She_ is Zero. Rather, she _will_ be Zero. She put him in the Nonary game… Oh. She can connect to him. If he reaches this puzzle… _Oh_.

She sees her plans. She sees her brother helping because she connects to _herself_ even though she's dead. She's dead and she isn't. There's no time left for her to solve the number puzzle in front of her eyes and she burns.

She needs the Nonary game to live, but she can also use it to get revenge. Two birds, one stone. Hongou, Kubota, Nijisaki, Musashidou… They will be a part of it and they will know how it feels. They should admit to their crimes.

She dies and Hongou gets away because he pays the police off. All the kids return home except an orphan who no one but her brother cares about, so no one cares and they all _get away_.

She screams and she burns as Hongou watches.

Her brother uses Hongou's company to earn money. Lots of money and never again will they want for anything. They will need it for the game.

She gives Jumpy the number 9 bracelet. With it he can go anywhere with anyone. It's so useful in the Nonary game; he will have a clear advantage. It will help him reach the incinerator. She screams when Hongou—they call him Ace now—kills him and then she burns again.

She gives Junpei the number 5 bracelet instead. _Her_ bracelet. Another connection between them. He cannot go however they want anymore but Ace will not target him.

She gives the number 9 bracelet to Kubota instead. Ace deceives him and kills him and he becomes the 9th Man, the only one among them without a name. Those among them who know his name will not speak it. She will not save him. His death is horrifying, but it is a death he created, and a death he suffers at the hand of the person for whom it was created. She will not save him.

She dies as Akane but she lives as June. Her bracelet displays a 6 but is a 0 and Aoi's displays a 3 but is a 9. They always have to go together, will always go together. Zero and her assistant.

She leaves Ace a note and tells him to confess his sins in front of the whole world. Tells him to admit what he did to her, to them, and face punishment. She leaves Nijisaki and Musashidou to be his witnesses.

She screams and cries and screams when Ace kills Light who is Snake who is _Light_. Not him. Not the kind boy who kept them together and gave away the clovers he'd collected for his sister—despite the time and effort it must have taken him because he cannot see and even most people who can have trouble finding them—but even so, he gives them away to keep them all safe. He dies and it is her fault and she screams and screams. Ace kills Nijisaki and Musashidou and will not repent. He killed Light and he killed them and she has to protect Light who will be Snake.

Ace cannot see faces. He recognises Snake because of his voice and because he is blind. He keeps track of who he is through his clothing. So Akane who is June who is Zero will use it against him. There is murder in his heart and she will only let him unleash it on those with blood on their hands. She has burned so many times already.

It's June who carries the missing parts for the REDs of doors 3, 7, and 8. She will activate the REDs once everyone has split up to look for them.

It is Aoi who is Santa who goes after Snake. Just enough soporil for him to sleep for a few hours again. He's very pretty in sleep, but so pale he almost looks dead. Unless they do this he will die. They cannot let him die.

Santa takes his clothes and put them on Nijisaki. Nijisaki has the right build and fits in them. Nijisaki is drugged to sluggishness, and Santa pushes him to walk towards the large hospital room with a number 2 bracelet on his wrist and a bomb in his gut. If Ace can learn then Nijisaki is safe, but Ace will not learn and Nijisaki's fate is sealed.

They take Snake and hide him away where Ace cannot touch him. They hide a clue for him, and he will sleep until they come for him.

Clover is lost without her brother. Will be lost without him. Akane screams her throat hoarse when she, when Aoi, when the big detective who is Seven die at her hand. Clover believes they killed Snake but no no no they kept him safe, he is _safe,_ Clover _**don't**_.

Ace asks Lotus to come with him. He will take her to door 9, no no no he cannot escape, he _must_ not escape. Clover kills Junpei, and Akane burns anew with death and madness on her conscience.

Three to five people can pass a numbered door, but Ace will steal and kill and the last door cannot be a 9 or he will _get away_.

Five innocents who must escape. Clover, who is frail, Seven, who cannot remember, Jumpy, the one who must save her, Lotus, always targeted by Ace, and Snake, who sleeps in the dark.

4+7+5+8+2=26… _Oh_.

The idea comes to her and she laughs through her tears. Find the door with a [q]. It can look the same but _Ace cannot escape_.

They dress Snake in a robe with the Pluto symbol on it. He is the Pluto key—he will help the others through door 9 because Santa and June needs Ace and Lotus.

4+5+7=16=1+6=7… 4+5+7+ **2** =18=1+8=9

She dies and dies and burns and lives. She lives through June and she lives through Junpei. She influences his actions, pushes him to find the information they need. She sees the future and shapes it but she does not know it all until one of them has experinced it already.

Clover is dead and the game is lost. Ace confesses everything, but Clover is dead and the game is lost. Junpei frees Snake and they reach the incinerator. She _knows_ now. As she watches Snake die die die, bleeding out before he can burn but living long enough to force Ace to stay in the incinerator as the others escape. That game was lost but now… Now she knows what she needs. _She will live_.

She transmits to her brother and he gives Junpei the bookmark with the four-leaf-clover Light who has become Snake gave them just hours earlier nine years ago. Santa gives Junpei the words Clover needs to hang on; Junpei will pass them on. Every innocent will live. Must live.

Clover puts her trust in Jumpy. Together they realise that Snake is not who lies dead behind door 3. They will live.

The Moment comes. Akane/June/Zero for the first time transmits to Junpei something he cannot know but must know.

 _Truth had gone, truth had gone and truth had gone._

 _Ah, now truth is asleep in the darkness of the sinister hand._

14383421

Code to the safe. Code to the coffin. Multiply by 9.

129450789

The true bracelet numbers in the order they come by display numbers.

Let him out, Junpei. Truth was asleep but now truth is awake. Let him out. Find the Pluto key and keep going.

 _SAVE ME._

…

…

…

The midday sun of the Nevada desert is so hot. Akane holds Aoi's hand as they walk away from the car they're leaving for the others. Ace is bound and gagged, locked in the trunk.

Together they move towards their own car. The others will catch up, but they will need to talk first. Bring Lotus up to speed about what happened. The truth of this Nonary game.

Akane looks at the sun through squinted eyes.

 _She lives_.


End file.
